March 2026 Update - Spring is Coming for Ukraine

Dear Supporters of Ukraine,

After an exceptionally cold winter, spring is finally in the air, and the people and soldiers of Ukraine at last see some relief - some of which you made happen: Thanks to the many UAO supporters from around the world and our partners, the UAO team ensured a steady flow of energy supply equipment reaching the soldiers holding the front lines: Thank you!

Donate here for Ground Drones: https://donorbox.org/fourwheeledfriends

With the political situation remaining difficult (higher oil prices due to the Iran war and increasing U.S. pressure on Ukraine), it is up to us supporting citizens and the soldiers of Ukraine to remain resolved. Ukraine became much more successful in attacking Russian oil export infrastructure at the Baltic and Black Sea coasts, imposing its own “sanctions” on Russia. With Ukraine reclaiming some territory of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, and Russia advances further towards Lyman, Slovyansk, and Kramatorsk, international support is more critical than ever.

This March 2026 newsletter shows you how your contributions make a difference, and you receive latest insights from our work in Ukraine:

Your UAO Volunteer Team

UAO “Targan” ground drone saves a wounded soldier

From the outset, UAO has been attuned not only to battlefield necessities, but also innovations, as soon as they become relevant. With the grey zone expanding and gaining lethality, UGVs, unmanned ground vehicles, or “ground drones”, have become more important than ever before. Ground drones are remotely controlled tracked or wheeled vehicles with storage platforms that can navigate difficult terrain - used for logistics of provisions, ammunition, but also for evacuation.

In early March, UAO delivered a ground drone, procured from donations to a previous CNV fundraiser, to the “Combat Hawks” of the 25th Air Assault Brigade - along with a sizable delivery of drone jammers, generators, and tablets. Not long after, it already saw action as a life-saving means of evacuation.

The evacuation from the perspective of the Ground Drone's camera!

After holding a position for a month and a half, one of the 25th Brigade’s units needed to relocate - but one of its soldiers stepped on a Russian anti-personnel mine, and unfortunately lost a foot. With remote medical advice, he was stabilised by his comrades, while under constant mortar fire and FPV assaults, the access roads mined. The only means of evacuation was using the “Targan” ground drone UAO had supplied. After putting the soldier on the ground drone’s storage platform, a perilous journey began. Some stretches of road were covered by anti-drone netting down to the verge, making leaving the road impossible. At other times, connection was lost, and the soldier’s comrades had to fear something bad had happened. At one point, contact was lost for minutes, when something extraordinary happened: The maimed soldier was able to call his comrades, informing them that an FPV drone had assaulted the ground drone, but that everything seemed fine, given the circumstances. The ground drone was able to resume its journey, and was able to make it home, where the soldier received emergency treatment - and survived. You can see the intense video as well as the amazing people behind this unit here: Youtube

Some days later, we learned that the ground drone was destroyed in another attack, but it had already saved its purpose. From your generous donations, UAO will continue to supply “Targan” ground drones to frontline units in need.

Donate here for Ground Drones: https://donorbox.org/fourwheeledfriends

This ground drone, with shipping boxes on top, was the very one that evacuated the soldier of the 25th Air Assault Brigade

Major deliveries for the eastern and south-eastern front lines from previous UAO fundraisers

As the weather changes, so does our mode of operation. During the snowy winter months - you may have seen the videos from frozen Ukraine - the UAO team made many equipment deliveries via pick-up truck from the UAO warehouse, or mailing equipment via “Nova Poshta” - the Ukrainian’s best and always reliable friend.

Now, as warmer spring weather sets in, deliveries thankfully become somewhat easier. The UAO team made substantial deliveries in the South-East, particularly to Pavlohrad. Thanks to your donations to our previous fundraisers, such as the Christmas fundraiser or the 23rd Brigade “Paralympics” fundraiser, many drones, generators, IT equipment and other essential items were delivered.

The drone pilots from the “Perun” Unmanned Systems Battalion were happy receivers of one of our major deliveries last month. They received our whole assortment of drones, like a “Targan” ground drone, thermal vision drones, surveillance drones (Mavics) and FPV drones

Recently, we raised funds for a van for the 23rd Brigade, a unit with members of the Ukrainian Paralympic sitting volleyball team. Supported by many volunteers, we delivered the van that now serves near the front line

Not ending there, we also made several deliveries facilitated through the support of our partners. Below, you can read about our partnership with the Diel Foundation, but we also delivered thanks to our fundraising partners. Only recently, our joint fundraiser with Paul and the Combat Veteran News (CVN) team, that visited Ukraine last winter and met many units, surpassed $100.000, which are spent on items for the units who were featured in the CVN team’s video - notable units like the Khartiia Brigade, 54th Separate Battalion, 3rd Assault Brigade, 93rd Brigade, 38 Marines, or the paratroopers from the 7th Corpus (25th Brigade and 79th Brigade).

Donate here for CVN Friends units: https://donorbox.org/uao-cvn-friends

Thanks to Paul and the Combat Veteran News (CVN) team, we made a high value delivery to the 54th Separate Battalion: 4 thermal vision drones, 4 generators and 2 power stations. Thank you all, who supported the "CVN Friends" fundraiser

Our international co-operations continue - Diel Foundation

Both Dutch foundations “Friends of Ukraine” and “Stichting Diel” were established early 2025 with the main purpose to support Ukraine Aid Ops with equipment. In the first year, they regularly provided cars, anti-thermal coats, batteries, tablets and IT equipment. With personal commitment from Dutch writer Joris Luyendijk, their fundraising results, dedicated to power stations and generators, increased substantially in December and January, as you may have noticed.

On the back of that particular fundraiser, we were already able to supply over 130 units since January, an exceptional one-of-a-kind experience. While winter finally gave way to spring in Ukraine, more equipment arrived, like ground drones that can navigate the thawing marshes and mud fields. We are more than happy that the Diel Foundation decided to join our latest fundraiser, aiming to procure and deliver 100 ground drones.

Powerstations and generators are in continuous need, even with the weather getting warmer. If you want to contribute to the energy supply of our defenders (especially for drone teams or command posts), you can still contribute to our energy fundraiser.

Donate here for Generators: https://donorbox.org/uao-winter-2025

Thanks to our co-operations with Stichting Diel and Eyes on Ukraine, hundreds of generators and power stations were supplied - paid for by the Dutch charities, delivered by the UAO team.

Thank you for standing strong with Ukraine. Together we will win this war!

Sincerely, the UAO volunteer team. 

Heroyam Slava!

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